ROC Air Force museum planned in US

FLYING PROUD:Several ROC associations in the US intend to raise US$3 million to construct an ROC museum, which is to feature exhibitions on World War II squadrons

Staff writer, with CNA, Los Angeles

A non-governmental Taiwanese organization in North America said on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with a private US museum on the allocation of land for the construction of a museum dedicated to the Republic of China (ROC) Air Force.

Under the agreement, 279m2 of land in Fairfield, California, is to be allocated for the ROC Air Force museum, the first of its kind in the US, according to the ROC Air Force Elementary School Alumni Association (AFESA) in the US and Canada.

The space will be allocated on the site of the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum, an extensive aviation museum that was established in 1986 and is to be rebuilt in the future, the association said.

The exhibitions envisioned for the ROC museum are to feature the Flying Tigers, Black Bat Squadron and Black Cat Squadron that fought alongside the Allied forces in World War II, said Yang Hsien-yi (楊賢怡), one of the organizers of the project.

The AFESA and two other similar ROC associations in the US hope to raise about US$3 million to purchase the property and construct the ROC museum within three years, he said.

Fundraising activities are to include a banquet on Oct. 13 and an exhibit of memorabilia and documents pertaining to joint US-ROC air force operations during World War II, which are to be exhibited at 15 air force museums throughout the US, Yang said.

Jonna Doolittle, granddaughter of the late US general after whom the aviation museum in Fairfield is named, is expected to attend the banquet next month, Yang said.

The Doolittle museum is named after California’s aviation pioneer and Medal of Honor recipient General James H. Doolittle, who led 16 B-25 bombers across Japanese defenses on April 18, 1942, in the first strike by US forces on the Japanese archipelago in World War II.

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